FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, March 8, 2010
CONTACT: Bobby Clark, Deputy Director at 303-905-8375

DENVER: Responding to news that the online retailer Amazon.com has terminated relationships with business affiliates in Colorado in protest of a new state law, ProgressNow Colorado, the state's largest online progressive advocacy organization released the following statement:

"After profiting from millions of dollars in direct sales to Colorado residents for years, Amazon is determined to protect their unfair advantage over local brick-and-mortar retailers," said ProgressNow Colorado Executive Director Bobby Clark. "This year, the Colorado legislature passed a law to enforce collection of taxes for online purchases, leveling the playing field between massive online merchants like Amazon and local retailers who pay their taxes and employ Coloradans.

"Rather than comply with the law as Amazon already does in many other localities where they collect sales tax on purchases, they chose to 'make an example' of our state, and unfairly punish their own business associates for political gain. Amazon clearly expects Coloradans to react hastily and in anger, but our state's citizens understand who is manipulating the situation for their own financial and political benefit.

"Local companies like the Tattered Cover Bookstore and Ultimate Electronics, who employ thousands of Colorado residents and pay their sales taxes back into the community, have suffered greatly while Amazon profited from an unfair advantage. With millions of dollars in badly-needed revenue set to make its way into the budgets for Colorado's schools, roads, and health care, standing behind Main Street over online behemoths like Amazon is an easy choice."

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I didn't catch the show last night, so I dug up a couple of gems on You Tube.  These girls can SING! 

Crystal Bowersox sings, "As Long as I See the Light" by Creedance Clearwater Revival

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0PqbF9qoKQ 

Siobhan Magnus sings, "Think" by Aretha Franklin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VV0tDKjdyRA

Senator Michael Bennet's support of using Senate rules to pass strong healthcare reform including a public option have been gaining support. Over thirty Senators including members of leadership such as Senators Reid, Durbin, and Schumer have declared their public support--not only for passing fixes to the Senate healthcare bill that would make it more in line with the priorities of the House bill, but to add a public option that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says will reduce the deficit.

From Senator Udall's office: 

Senator Udall shares President Obama’s over-arching priority of enacting meaningful and comprehensive health reform that will increase quality and access and put our system on a sustainable track by lowering costs for small businesses, taxpayers, and American families. As part of reform, he continues to feel that inclusion of a public option to go head-to-head with private insurers could play a significant role in bringing down costs and offering more affordable options to Coloradans. He thinks it’s important that such a plan – like the one approved in the House bill – negotiate reimbursement rates while competing on a level playing field with the private sector, and if such a plan comes up for a vote under the reconciliation process, he would vote for it.

".........the crisis is still growing because we are continuing to dump 90 million tons of global-warming pollution every 24 hours into the atmosphere — as if it were an open sewer."   (Think of it this way, the world is launching 40 million two and one half ton SUV's or 45,000 space shuttles into the atmosphere every 24 hours. Can you hear him now? I personally think we are way beyond the "oh, shit" moment. mc) 

NY Times

February 28, 2010

Op-Ed Contributor

We Can’t Wish Away Climate Change

By AL GORE

It would be an enormous relief if the recent attacks on the science of global warming actually indicated that we do not face an unimaginable calamity requiring large-scale, preventive measures to protect human civilization as we know it.

Of course, we would still need to deal with the national security risks of our growing dependence on a global oil market dominated by dwindling reserves in the most unstable region of the world, and the economic risks of sending hundreds of billions of dollars a year overseas in return for that oil. And we would still trail China in the race to develop smart grids, fast trains, solar power, wind, geothermal and other renewable sources of energy — the most important sources of new jobs in the 21st century.

Continued:

NY Times

Best defense is an offense?  How's that working out for us?  You want offensive?  How about a non-union TSA? Or 22 government agencies "supervised" by the Department of Homeland Security.  Stripping 180,000 federal employees of their union rights while creating the best example of bloated, ineffective and incompetent government ever conceived, Democrat or Republican.  As for incompetence, can you say, Katrina?  The senate voted 90 to 9 to approve the creation of the DHS.  MC

"All this activity is already straining the Coast Guard budget. Most of the 19 cutters that were sent to Haiti eventually needed help themselves — thanks in large part to their age, 12 of them suffered severe problems at sea, and three required emergency dry-dock repairs. That’s not surprising, since the average “high endurance” cutter is 41 years old, compared to 14 years for the average Navy ship."

NY Times 

February 27, 2010

Op-Ed

ContributorsPutting the Coast Guard Out to Sea

By LAWRENCE J. KORB and SEAN E. DUGGAN

Washington

DESPITE the pressing need to cut government spending, under President Obama’s spending proposal all the nation’s military services are set to see their budgets increase — all, that is, except the Coast Guard, the nation’s chronically overburdened maritime force, responsible for everything from global search and rescue to port security.

Under the president’s proposal, the Coast Guard’s budget will decline by 3 percent, to $10.1 billion, smaller than many medium-sized agencies under the other services. It’s a puzzling decision, considering the increasingly critical role the Coast Guard plays in protecting the national security interests of the United States — and considering that many much less vital military programs have been spared.

Beyond combating drug smuggling and international piracy, the 41,000-member Coast Guard is our nation’s first line of defense against nuclear terrorism. If someone wanted to detonate a nuclear bomb in this country, would hebe more likely to launch it on a missile with a return address, or would he try to smuggle it in a container through one of our ports? The latter, obviously — and the Coast Guard’s Port Security Units would play a pivotal role in stopping him.

Continued at the NY Times:

NY Times

Remember, fear is a Republican's Forte. "Our Politics May Be All in Our Head" NY Times and that column as much as said Republicans are "girly men" Not sure what to call their women other than rude, crude and unattractive.  MC

"But the more senior official, David Margolis, decided that Mr. Yoo and Mr. Bybee only had shown “poor judgment” and should not be disciplined. Mr. Margolis did not dispute that Mr. Yoo and Mr. Bybee mangled legal reasoning and produced work that ultimately was repudiated by the Bush administration itself. He criticized the professional responsibility office’s investigation on procedural grounds and excused Mr. Yoo and Mr. Bybee by noting that everyone was frightened after Sept. 11, 2001, and that they were in a hurry."

"Americans were indeed frightened after Sept. 11, and the Bush administration was in a great rush to torture prisoners. Responsible lawyers would have responded with extra vigilance, especially if, like Mr. Yoo and Mr. Bybee, they worked in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel. When that office renders an opinion, it has the force of law within the executive branch. Poor judgment is an absurdly dismissive way to describe giving the green light to policies that have badly soiled America’s reputation and made it less safe."

NY Times

Amendment 54 is dead. May it rest in peace, forever undisturbed.

I think it is worth recalling what Amendment 54 was all about. While i don't often rely upon the mainstream media to explain issues related to work life and democratic process, i think their perception of this bill gives a good overview.

There was one newspaper that approved of Amendment 54, the Aspen Times. Their entire editorial comment in support consisted of,

Vote yes on Amendment 54.

 http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20081008/DAILYCOMMENT/810079961&parentprofile=search

Newspapers opposing Amendment 54 included the Rocky Mountain News, Denver Post, The Mountain Mail (Salida), Pueblo Chieftain, Longmont Times-Call, Grand Junction Sentinel, Loveland Reporter-Herald, Boulder Weekly, Cortez Journal, The Durango Telegraph, Yellow Scene Magazine, and the Steamboat Pilot & Today.

Some of their comments, and a brief roundup of other labor issues after the fold.

...............Before We Can Listen to the Dixie Chicks Again?  Civilian deaths from air strikes are considered cowardly by the Afghans, I do as well.  It is also the most effective recruiting tool in the Muslim world, every religion has a boogie man.  We are playing that part very well.  What are "just a few rag heads" to the yellow ribbon crowd is major to the 1.6 billion Muslims in the world.  MC

NY Times

February 23, 2010

NATO Airstrike Is Said to Have Killed Afghan Civilians

By ROD NORDLAND

KABUL, Afghanistan — A NATO airstrike on Sunday against what international troops believed to be a group of insurgents ended up killing 27 civilians in the worst episode involving noncombatant deaths in six months, Afghan officials said on Monday.

“The repeated killing of civilians by NATO forces is unjustifiable,” President Hamid Karzai’s cabinet said in a statement. “We strongly condemn it.”

The airstrike took place in an area under Dutch military control, and if Dutch forces were involved in the incident it could have serious political repercussions in the Netherlands, where the government collapsed Saturday over an effort to extend the mandate of 2,000 Dutch troops in Afghanistan.

But a Dutch defense ministry spokesman in The Hague said Dutch forces were not involved in calling the airstrike. The spokesman, who spoke in return for customary anonymity, did not say who had called for air support.

NATO officials did not immediately identify the nationality of the forces involved in the incident.

Continued at the NY Times:

NY Times

The head of US Central Command has said the current offensive around the southern Afghan town of Marjah is the initial operation of a long campaign.

Gen David Petraeus told NBC that the offensive was part of a revised strategy for combating insurgents that would probably last "12 to 18 months".

He said Taliban resistance to Operation Moshtarak, which is in its second week, had been "formidable" but "disjointed".

Nato commanders have said it may take another month to fully secure Marjah.

Afghan police have already been deployed in areas recaptured from the Taliban, as part of a plan to put the area under the control of the local authorities.

So far, 12 Nato personnel have been killed in the offensive, which involves 15,000 Nato and Afghan troops and is the biggest operation against insurgents in Afghanistan since the 2001 US-led invasion.

Another three personnel were reported dead on Sunday in unrelated incidents in eastern and southern Afghanistan. Their nationalities were not given.

'Initial salvo'

Gen Petraeus said the US public should expect further losses, much like there were following the so-called troop surge in Iraq.

Did you know that it's legal for predatory lenders to charge as much as 521% interest on payday loans?  That's not a typo.

Out of state payday lenders have flocked to Colorado in the last decade because the once right-wing Colorado legislature passed a loophole in 2000 that exempted these predatory lenders from having to charge reasonable interest rates. You've seen them--they cluster along main streets and in low-income neighborhoods, preying on hard-working Coloradans and taking more than $80 MILLION in interest and fees out of our economy every year!

In these times, banks, credit card companies, and these payday loan sharks are making record profits on the backs of Colorado consumers. If we organize, we can take on the payday loan shark industry. We don't have to wait on Washington DC to do anything-the power is right here in Colorado's legislature. They broke it in 2000, and they can fix it today. We want our state legislature to act. 

So my question to you is do you agree? 

By LEONARD PITTS
lpitts@MiamiHerald.com

I hear you're pondering a run for the White House in 2012. Last week, you told Fox news it would be ``absurd'' to rule it out.

I'm writing to ask that you rule it in. I very badly want you to run for -- and win -- the Republican nomination for the presidency.

I know you're waiting for the punch line. Maybe you figure I think you'd be a weak candidate who would pave the way for President Obama's easy re-election.

That's not it. No, I want you to run because I believe a Palin candidacy would force upon this country a desperately needed moment of truth. It would require us to finally decide what kind of America we want to be.

Continued:

Miami Herald